Building a data-driven workforce: PMM Insight

March 13, 2025
On this podcast episode, learn how to attract and retain tech-savvy employees who can use data to improve production.

Manufacturing jobs are evolving, and your hiring practices need to change as well if you want to be prepared for the future. 

Modern equipment generates rivers of data that, used and interpreted properly, can make your processes more efficient, reliable and profitable. But you need workers who know how to put that data to work.

In this episode, senior reporter Karen Hanna and editor Ron Shinn discuss her stories detailing the kinds of skills you should be looking for and how to get those data-savvy employees onto your shop floor.

About the Author

Ron Shinn | Editor

Editor Ron Shinn is a co-founder of Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing and has been covering the plastics industry for more than 35 years. He leads the editorial team, directs coverage and sets the editorial calendar. He also writes features, including the Talking Points column and On the Factory Floor, and covers recycling and sustainability for PMM and Plastics Recycling.

About the Author

Karen Hanna | Senior Staff Reporter

Senior Staff Reporter Karen Hanna covers injection molding, molds and tooling, processors, workforce and other topics, and writes features including In Other Words and Problem Solved for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. She has more than 15 years of experience in daily and magazine journalism.